Cooking with Pomegranates

One of the ubiquitous symbols of Rosh Hashanah is the pomegranate. On the second night of Rosh Hashanah, Jews eat a “new” fruit that they haven’t eaten in 30 days. One of the most popular is the pomegranate. The pomegranate is a fruit of Israel and is said to have 613 seeds – compared to the 613 mitzvot in the Torah. On Rosh Hashana besides the new fruit “shehechiyanu” blessing, we say an extra blessing on the pomegranate of “sheyirbu zechuyoseynu k’rimon” – may our merits be many like the seeds of the pomegranate. With a great blessing like that I would think that we would want to use as many pomegranates on the holiday as possible! I’m sharing with you some of my all-time favorite, delicious and fabulous pomegranate recipes. Have a happy and healthy New Year!

Pomegranate Cranberry Star-fruit Chicken

This recipe is a great way to use two “shechiyanu” fruits in a single sweet and tangy recipe. Your Yom Tov guests will ooh and ahh at this unique and gorgeous chicken dish! Make sure to use only ripe star-fruit or they will be sour.

In a medium saucepan, combine pomegranate-cranberry juice with the sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 75 minutes until reduced and thickened. (Can be made a few days in advance and refrigerated until ready to use.)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Cover a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick vegetable spray. Set aside.

Add the ½ cup of honey and the star-fruit to the syrup. Simmer 10 minutes. Add the dried pomegranate infused cranberries.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Brown chicken on both sides, then place on prepared baking sheet. Evenly spoon the syrup mixture over the chicken. Bake for 45 minutes, basting with the sauce every 15 minutes. Serve topped with oven juices, star-fruit and cranberries.

For additional sauce:

Combine the pomegranate-cranberry juice blend and corn starch in a small saucepan, making sure to dissolve all the starch. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Serve warm sauce over chicken.

Pomegranate Syrup Chicken

Made using thick pomegranate “drink syrup” that can be found in the liquor section of grocery stores and real unsweetened pomegranate juice, this chicken packs a ton of “pomegranety” flavor!!

2 3.25 pound chickens, cut into 8ths, skin removed (it’s healthier!)

2 cups pomegranate syrup

1 cup pure pomegranate juice

½ cup honey

1 clove garlic, finely minced

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon ground thyme

non-stick vegetable spray

2 tablespoons corn starch

fresh pomegranate seeds for garnish (optional)

Combine the pomegranate syrup, pomegranate juice, honey, garlic, pepper, and thyme in a medium bowl. Stir until thoroughly combined. Place chicken bone side up in a large casserole, or in an extra large ziplock bag. Pour marinade over chicken. Cover with plastic wrap, or seal bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375° F or 350° F convection.

Cover a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, then spray with non-stick vegetable spray. Remove chicken from marinade, reserving remaining marinade. Place chicken bone side up on the prepared baking sheet. Spoon a small amount of marinade over the chicken, reserving the remaining marinade. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Turn chicken bone side down, and bake for an additional 30 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

While chicken is baking, place marinade in a 4 quart saucepan. Add the corn starch and stir until starch is completely dissolved with no remaining lumps. Cook over medium heat until sauce thickens, around 20 minutes.

Place baked chicken on a serving platter and garnish with pomegranate seeds. Serve warm.

Pomegranate Rice

For a bigger pomegranate flavor use 3 cups of pomegranate-cranberry juice blend and 1 cup of vegetable stock. If you can’t find pomegranate infused dried cranberries, you can use traditional dried cranberries instead.

1 large white onion, finely diced (around 2 ½ cups)

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 cups basmati rice

2 cups pomegranate-cranberry juice blend (I use Langers)

2 cups vegetable stock

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 ½ cups pomegranate infused dried cranberries

Heat the canola oil in a large stock pot. Sauté the onion in the oil until slightly browned. Add the rice, juice and vegetable stock to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes until rice is cooked through. Allow the rice to sit for 10 minutes, then stir in the salt and dried cranberries. Serve warm.

No-Bake Fruity Pomegranate Mousse Pie

(makes two 9” pies)

This is the perfect light and creamy ending to your huge Yom Tov meal. It’s quick to make, and doesn’t require precious oven time to prepare. Using ready-made graham cracker crusts also speeds up prep time so you have more time to spend with your family and guests!

Combine dessert jel and juice in a small bowl. Fill a small saucepan with 1 ½ inches of water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a very low simmer. Set the small bowl in the saucepan and stir until mix is completely dissolved in the juice and warm to the touch (not hot). Remove from the water and set aside.

Whip 2 cups of whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Add the Jel/juice mixture to the whipped cream and re-whip until stiff. Spoon into the ready-made graham cracker crusts. Smooth the top using an offset spatula.

Whip the remaining 2 cups of whipping cream. Spread or pipe decoratively on the top of the filling. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Slice and serve garnished with dried cranberries or fresh pomegranate seeds. Can be made in advance and frozen. Defrost slightly before serving.

Note: For an even bigger pomegranate flavor, add 2 teaspoons of pomegranate extract flavoring to the mousse.

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About the Author

Sharon Matten lives in Chicago and is a Freelance Pastry Chef, Kosher Food Writer & Blogger, Cable TV guest Chef, Wilton Cake Instructor, Cookbook Contributing Editor, Electrical Engineer, Wife & Mom (not in order of importance!). She writes the weekly www.koshereveryday.com blog about cooking kosher with a family and busy life – pictures and recipes included! To get more great recipes, and to find out more information about Sharon Matten go to www.koshereveryday.com.

Since honey is produced by bees, and bees are not a kosher species, how can honey be kosher?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

The Talmud (Bechoros 7b) asks your very question! The Talmud bases this question on the principle that “whatever comes from a non-kosher species is non-kosher, and that which comes from something kosher is kosher.”

So why is bee-honey kosher? Because even though bees bring the nectar into their bodies, the resultant honey is not a 'product' of their bodies. It is stored and broken down in their bodies, but not produced there. (see Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 81:8)

By the way, the Torah (in several places such as Exodus 13:5) praises the Land of Israel as "flowing with milk and honey." But it may surprise you to know that the honey mentioned in the verse is actually referring to date and fig honey (see Rashi there)!

In 1809, a group of 70 disciples of the great Lithuanian sage the Vilna Gaon, arrived in Israel, after traveling via Turkey by horse and wagon. The Vilna Gaon set out for the Holy Land in 1783, but for unknown reasons did not attain his goal. However he inspired his disciples to make the move, and they became pioneers of modern settlement in Israel. (A large contingent of chassidic Jews arrived in Tzfat around the same time.) The leader of the 1809 group, Rabbi Israel of Shklov, settled in Tzfat, and six years later moved to Jerusalem where he founded the modern Ashkenazic community. The early years were fraught with Arab attacks, earthquakes, and a cholera epidemic. Rabbi Israel authored, Pe'at Hashulchan, a digest of the Jewish agricultural laws relating to the Land of Israel. (He had to rewrite the book after the first manuscript was destroyed in a fire.) The location of his grave remained unknown until it was discovered in Tiberias, 125 years after his death. Today, the descendants of that original group are amongst the most prominent families in Jerusalem.

When you experience joy, you feel good because your magnificent brain produces hormones called endorphins. These self-produced chemicals give you happy and joyful feelings.

Research on these biochemicals has proven that the brain-produced hormones enter your blood stream even if you just act joyful, not only when you really are happy. Although the joyful experience is totally imaginary and you know that it didn’t actually happen, when you speak and act as if that imaginary experience did happen, you get a dose of endorphins.

These chemicals are naturally produced by your brain. They are totally free and entirely healthy.

Many people find that this knowledge inspires them to create more joyful moments. It’s not just an abstract idea, but a physical reality.

Occasionally, when I walk into an office, the receptionist greets me rudely. Granted, I came to see someone else, and a receptionist's disposition is immaterial to me. Yet, an unpleasant reception may cast a pall.

A smile costs nothing. Greeting someone with a smile even when one does not feel like smiling is not duplicity. It is simply providing a pleasant atmosphere, such as we might do with flowers or attractive pictures.

As a rule, "How are you?" is not a question to which we expect an answer. However, when someone with whom I have some kind of relationship poses this question, I may respond, "Not all that great. Would you like to listen?" We may then spend a few minutes, in which I unburden myself and invariably begin to feel better. This favor is usually reciprocated, and we are both thus beneficiaries of free psychotherapy.

This, too, complies with the Talmudic requirement to greet a person in a pleasant manner. An exchange of feelings that can alleviate someone's emotional stress is even more pleasant than an exchange of smiles.

It takes so little effort to be a real mentsch.

Today I shall...

try to greet everyone in a pleasant manner, and where appropriate offer a listening ear.

With stories and insights,
Rabbi Twerski's new book Twerski on Machzor makes Rosh Hashanah prayers more meaningful. Click here to order...